Thursday, April 16, 2015

I probably do too little on formula windsurfing so here is some commentary on the above competition. The best formula guys in the world gathered in Praia de Vitoria, on Terceira Island in the Portugese Azores to battle it out in the final meeting for the world championship.Gonzalo won followed by Janis Preiss and Sebastian Kornum from Denmark.

Gonzalo the man

Janis on awesome equipment

Steve Allen leading Arnon home

The slightly strange Elk Formula fin

Gonzalo and Janis both ride Elk fins. Quite a co-incidence that I mentioned these blades in the previous post. Looking at pictures of the event I notice that Gonzalo was on sails from Loft and GA. Seeing that he has recently joined Point 7 as a team member this is slightly puzzling but I think that they have not yet finalized their racing sails. I suppose that Gonzalo will be having some input into the design and development of these foils. Janis rides GA,GA (Vapor3 board) and Elk fins. Sebastian is on Pryde and Starboard (fins unknown). Basti Kordel was fifth on GA and Starboard while Ross Williams came in sixth on the same equipment as Janis. A really good showing then, for GA sails, Starboard formula boards (168l) and Elk fins. Basti was rocking the very high tech masts from Slake. Nice!

Friday, April 10, 2015

I trust that you have had a look at the Select brochure from the link provided in the previous post. Right now the Select website does not contain the new brochure, preferring to provide a challenge for anyone interested in their new fins. (??).

Looking at the new Rhino alongside the HiWind - I have to say that the shape of these fins looks very similar. Is the HiWind simply a G10 Rhino? When Kevin Do suggested that the HiWind may actually be the new Rhino I dismissed the idea but he may have been closer than I gave him credit for. The tips are slightly different but all in all a pretty similar shape. I'm sure that the bend/flex characteristics will differ though.

I have had a look at pricing on the new Rhino and note that it is being sold at between $350 and $400 depending on length. This puts it alongside some pretty serious competitors and I have to wonder if it is going to sell.

For the same money you can buy an iFins Nano and will have had the opportunity of seeing Ben vd Steen blasting past the fastest slalom guys on the planet with one of those screwed to his Manta. You will have seen Ross Williams destroying the formula racing fleet on his Elk fins. You could have watched Steve Allen winning the Lancelin long distance race against the best on a Carpenter fin. Pieter Bijl has been devastating on his Vector fins of late. My point is that all of the aforementioned fins have proven themselves to be capable of winning against the best slalom windsurfers around. We have yet to see anyone winning anything on a Select Rhino but are being asked to fork out one large pile of cash to buy one.

This is not to say that there is anything wrong with the fin. I predict that it is going to be something special but with no track record I have to think that the initial price could have been set a bit lower.

I will import the images as soon as I work out how to do it and will also get some details regarding pricing. In the meantime - enjoy the data and visuals on this fin. I will give some commentary in due course.

About Me

This blog is all about windsurfing so I will keep everything windsurfing related. I am a retired guy living in one of the best flat water sailing spots in the world. I would classify myself as a good recreational sailor capable of holding my own against any other recreational sailor. Serious racers and national level competitors kick my ass. As explained in the blog the range of conditions and opportunities provided by this place has created a group of avid sailors who spend far too much time sailing, discussing and researching things of a windsurfing nature
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I also run a commercial website at:
http://philrecommends.info/
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This has nothing at all to do with windsurfing but is rather a lifestyle site with tips and recommendations for everyone.